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Dick DeVos and his Appointment to the FAA

July 5, 2018 •
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Did you know that Dick DeVos, previous CEO and President of Amway, now works with the FAA in Washington? Last year, DeVos was inducted into the Management Advisory Council by the Federal Aviation Administration. The council advises the FAA on all sorts of issues related to the aviation industry, especially for policies, regulations, and budgets. DeVos hopes to help with future growth as well. He believes that there have been some challenges facing the FAA as technology has given way to certain issues with security, ticket sales, and employment.

The Council is made up of 13 members who are from transportation and security, former airline executives, and others in business who can help with the FAA’s new plans. DeVos has experience in both business and aviation, and he has been on the front lines to see how the aviation industry has fluctuated each year. In some cases, there have been some incredible highs and lows.

DeVos started out as a pilot when he was very young. He would eventually become the leader in sales for Amway during his presidency at the company. However, it was his drive for aviation that persisted all of these years. He also has a love for his hometown that has given the economy so many ways to grow over the past 10 years, although DeVos would say that he started the trend in the 1990s.

There was a period of time when DeVos was closely working with business leaders in Grand Rapids to formulate the economy and allow the city to grow as rapidly as possible. While he still works with city leaders, many of the projects have been in place now since the 1990s and have allowed the city to thrive. A few of those projects were built under Grand Action, which was a committee that DeVos helped form in the early 1990s with other business leaders in Grand Rapids.

Grand Action and the DeVos Family Foundation contributed a lot to the planning of the new Grand Rapids, bringing in businesses and cultural landmarks to the downtown area to support new growth. DeVos also focused on bringing more people to the area through the airport. He began to work closely with the CEO after the re-launch of Gerald R. Ford International Airport in 1999.

His new relationship brought him in contact with the CEOs of Air Tran Airways and Southwest Airlines, as well as others that had terminals at the Grand Rapids location. DeVos worked with many of them to secure an expansion construction deal that would lead to a new business traveler area, food court, and technology in the terminals. The renovation has been successful and will be completed in 2018.

That’s not all that DeVos has done for aviation. He also worked with kids and built a charter school to train pilots at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport. His views on education and training for the aviation world may also be helpful to the FAA.